A/N: Surprise early update! I'm going to the state fair tomorrow so I won't be able to post at the normal time. Also, I made a new cover image of our friendly neighborhood Kakashi-napper! I have a bigger version of it on deviantArt, which uses the same username. Also, Reebajee made some great fan art of the photo in Sasuke's (and technically also Itachi's) omamari! You can find it in my favorites on my DA account. This is the first time I've gotten fan art for this story, and I love it. It just captures everyone's faces so perfectly.
Anyways, enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 25
"If you're young, you should try to travel a bit. See the world, get some great stories under your belt. Fall in love with an enemy from a foreign country and develop a Romeo and Juliet situation, and see if you can use it to create a peace treaty or something."
Life returned to normal surprisingly fast after Masaru revealed his Sharingan to Kakashi, with some minor changes. He now had specialized training with him and Sasuke once a week, and Gaku had been given a special schedule to aid in training his doujutsu.
Due to the events in Wave, Kakashi decided Team Seven had a good enough grip on the concept of teamwork to start learning some more advanced techniques. This meant cutting down on the D-rank missions, which in turn meant they would not be likely to run a mission with Masaru anytime soon. He did get to join in the training sometimes though, so it balanced out a bit.
Meanwhile, Team Eight's teacher, Kurenai, apparently decided they had also reached an optimal level of teamwork to let another person join the mix.
"Well, that was certainly eventful," Kurenai commented as they went to the administration building to submit their report. Kiba growled under his breath in irritation as he trailed behind her, a sentiment echoed by Akamaru. Dog fur covered him from head to toe even more than usual, the sleeves of his sweatshirt almost shredded by the sheer number of scratches from tiny claws left by the struggling puppies. The others didn't look much better, their clothing just as ragged and coated with dog fur.
Today's mission had consisted of helping with puppy vaccinations. Normally the Inuzuka clan did not request help for vaccinating puppies, but they had three large litters born around the same time for a whopping total of twenty-two puppies, which was a lot even by their standards. Since ninken puppies tended to be pretty bright, the clan decided to get some help in keeping the puppies in line for the inevitable chaos that would follow when they figured out what was going on.
Alas, that job had fallen on Team Eight and Masaru, and the ninken puppies figured it out by Puppy Number Nine.
They never stood a chance.
"I think they shed more than mom's cats did," Masaru groaned.
"F-father won't be happy with this," Hinata mumbled, frowning as she held out her arms to eye her ripped sleeves.
"Screw what your dad thinks!" Kiba snapped. "You're gonna come back with a lot worse than dog fur once you go on the field!" Akamaru yipped in agreement, flashing the nervous Hyuuga a doggy grin full of encouragement. Masaru just eyed Hinata thoughtfully, his lips pulling into a small frown. Seeing this, Kurenai stepped forward with a faint smile.
"Hinata-chan's father is quite strict," she explained. "He places a lot of expectations on her since she's the eldest child of the main house." Hinata ducked her head at the comment, her cheeks tinting slightly red, and Masaru's frown grew.
"I know," he muttered and the others paused, not missing the bitterness that seeped into his voice.
"Have you met Hiashi-sama?" Shino questioned, cocking his head slightly. "The tone you use suggests you have a personal grudge against the man."
"I haven't met him," Masaru replied, shaking his head. His fists clenched at his sides as he added heatedly, "But I don't need to, to know he's a jerk." Kiba and Kurenai looked at him in open curiosity, and Hinata fidgeted slightly, raising her head to glance at him.
"Um, i-is this because of," she hesitated, frowning and poking her fingers together nervously. "A-Akari-chan?" Masaru glanced at her in faint surprise and she flinched, as if expecting him to lash out at mentioning his sister.
"...Yeah, it is," he confirmed quietly, and looked away with a sigh. Hearing his sister's name still brought up a dull ache in his chest, reminding him of just what he'd lost.
"Akari?" Kurenai echoed, frowning. "That's... Masaru-kun's sister, right?" The fact she knew Akari faintly surprised Masaru, but he didn't really feel like asking how she did. It would just bring back sad memories.
"We... used to be friends," Hinata explained, saving Masaru the trouble. "But our clans didn't really g-get along, and Akari-chan wasn't very... um, important. S-so, the clan elders pressured my father to make me end it, and... he did." Her head bowed once more, guilt riddling her features. Masaru scowled as he recalled Akari's anger at the premature demise of their friendship, his jaw clenching tight.
Kiba, however, skidded to a stop, nearly choking on air as he pointed to Masaru. "Wait a second, you're Akari's brother!? Holy shit!" Masaru flinched and turned to face the Inuzuka with a look of mild bewilderment, more than a little confused by his reaction. Next to him Shino huffed a small sigh, his head tipping slightly into his high collar.
"Kiba, I am aware you are not the brightest person on our team, but I expected you to at least notice they went home together every day."
"B-but that's, I-I, uh," Kiba stammered nervously, the perfect picture of embarrassed as his cheeks grew almost as red as the fangs tattooed onto them. Masaru found himself strangely entranced by the markings, the crimson fangs tugging at his memory.
He stood on the playground of the academy, watching from afar as Akari rolled on the ground wrestling with a small boy with two red triangles on his face. Laughter drifted to his ears as the boy pinned his sister, only for her to squirm out of his grip and throw him to the side. As they rolled along another boy with sunglasses suddenly appeared and halted their tumble, gesturing to the grass. Akari and the first boy stopped and watched curiously as he bent down, and their eyes lit up in awe as he lifted his arm to reveal a large, black beetle.
That's right, he thought in the present, sneaking dazed looks at Shino and Kiba. They were friends with Akari, weren't they...
"Masaru? Is everything okay?" Kurenai's concerned voice drew his attention, and Masaru glanced at her in a slight daze only to freeze. Crimson eyes bore into him, and for half a horrifying second he imagined black tomoe forming and spinning wildly. He staggered back with a startled gasp, his breath hitching in his throat, and then shrieked as he felt hands grip his shoulder.
"Masaru?" Kiba asked next to him, and Masaru whirled his head around to find him watching worriedly. Whatever the Inuzuka intended to say died on his lips though, as his mouth fell open as his eyes bulged out. "Holy shit! Masaru! Your eyes! They're red!"
Kiba's interjection jolted Masaru and his earlier daze faded, replaced by sheer surprise. "W-what?" he stammered, blinking wildly. Spinning his head around, he realized everything seemed far clearer, and his shoulders drooped. "...My Sharingan is active, isn't it."
"Y-yes," Hinata squeaked, looking mildly shocked and frightened. Sighing, Masaru closed his eyes and willed his chakra to move away from them, and when he opened his lids again the world had returned to its normal resolution.
"Does that happen a lot?" Shino asked.
"Sometimes," he sighed, thinking back to the three-day training trip with Kakashi and Sasuke.
"As you know, the Sharingan typically activates in life or death situations," Kakashi explained casually, leaning against a tree as the two Uchiha boys sat cross-legged in front of him. "That is because it is primarily triggered by intense emotions, which is probably why your clan tried to discourage showing any human emotion whatsoever."
Sasuke snorted and rolled his eyes at the thinly veiled insult, while Masaru frowned and shrugged. Sounded accurate enough, it matched with what his mom told him. Kakashi's gaze slid over to him, and he immediately stiffened. "Masaru-kun, from what you've told me, you first noticed your Sharingan when you saw your reflection after a bad dream, correct?" The boy winced and looked away, nodding quietly.
"Yeah, it's true," he mumbled. He clearly remembered the brief spike of terror when he sat up in bed and noticed the bright red eyes glowing in his bedroom mirror. It had taken a moment to recognize it belonged to his reflection, and not to the boy who slayed their family or the boy who woke up on a table with only one eye in his dream.
"You know how to consciously activate and deactivate it, but you've never explicitly trained that aspect. Based on the other instances you've mentioned activating it, I think your Sharingan is actually even more sensitive to your emotional state than usual. In short, it may be possible for it to trigger without you noticing."
"It's fine," Kurenai assured him, offering a small smile. "It just surprised us, that's all. Let's go deliver the reports, okay?" The four genin nodded, and they resumed their journey. However, when they arrived at the administration building, a chuunin entered the room and shot Masaru a pointed look.
"Ah, Uchiha-san!" he greeted with a nod. "Perfect timing! The Hokage wanted to see you when you got back." Masaru stiffened and frowned, glancing at the others as he wondered why the Hokage would want to see him specifically.
"Aw, man, a personal audience?" Kiba said, looking at the Uchiha with a small frown. "Dang it, now I'm kinda jealous!" His voice held a playful note though, and Masaru knew he didn't feel any ill will.
"Go ahead," Kurenai told him with a smile. "We can turn in the report on our own." Nodding, Masaru followed the chuunin down the hall to the Hokage's office, the man knocking on the door and ushering him inside. To his surprise Gaku stood waiting in front of the desk alongside two other men. One had a noticeable scar on his face spanning the bridge of his nose and his left cheek, while the other had a senbon in his mouth and wore a bandana with the metal plate bearing Konoha's symbol on the back.
His gaze quickly wandered away from them though, focusing on a white-haired man behind the desk. Masaru could only see half of his face, the man turned away to study his mother's map hanging on the wall. The boy's lips pursed, studying the red line extending from the stranger's visible eye. Something about him seemed... familiar.
"Masaru-kun, perfect timing," the Hokage greeted with a warm smile, drawing his attention back to him. "I had hoped you would arrive soon. I trust your mission with Team Eight went well?"
Masaru paused and glanced down at himself. Enough dog fur covered him to knit a hat, or maybe some patches to sew over the holes left by the puppies. "...Define 'well,'" he deadpanned, and the Hokage chuckled.
"In any event, I am sure you know about the upcoming Chuunin Exams, correct?" His words gave Masaru pause and his gaze slowly shifted to the two men, eying their flak jackets pointedly.
"We're not here to round out a team for you, kid," the senbon-chewing shinobi chuckled, mouth curving into a wry smirk. "We've already done our time, we're not doing it again."
"I'm afraid you won't be participating this time around," Gaku added. "As you know Konoha requires a full team to participate, and we don't have enough time to round up a couple genin to work with you and establish a suitable level of teamwork."
"...Ah." He nodded slowly, secretly relieved. While his training had certainly picked up lately, he did not feel ready for the Chuunin Exams yet. Still, that begged the question of why the Hokage mentioned it at all. Fortunately, as if reading his mind the elderly leader spoke up.
"Masaru, as you know, one of the more significant rites of passage in a shinobi's life is their first mission outside the village," he began, and Masaru perked to attention. "As you have no team, most C-rank missions are too unsafe to send you, as you would almost invariably end in a situation where you would be alone at some point. However, currently a large number of foreign shinobi are journeying to Konoha for the Chuunin Exams. And as I'm sure you can imagine, we want to do a good job hosting them."
Comprehension clicked in Masaru's brain, looking to the two strangers next to Gaku. "You want me to help escort some of them here," he surmised, and all four men nodded.
"Pretty bright, kid," commented the scarred man. "Not everyone knows the way to Konoha, so we usually send out squads to meet the teams at a certain point and escort them the rest of the way."
"Tomorrow, you will be expected to greet the delegation from Suna at a hotel in Aokigawa-cho at noon," the Hokage explained, taking on a more businesslike tone. "Genma and Raidou have escorted teams from that particular point before, so they'll take lead. There will only be one genin team from Suna this trip, as they chose to travel separately from the other genin teams. However, this team is of particular importance because it happens to consist of the Kazekage's three children."
The four shinobi in front of him stood to visible attention at the last part, instantly recognizing the gravity of the mission. Suna and Konoha had a shaky alliance at the moment, so escorting the Kazakage's own children could have a major effect on their relationship.
Leaning forward, the Hokage folded his hands on his desk as he eyed Masaru. "Their ages span three years, but his youngest son happens to be your age. Gaku-san has told me about your desire to enter a field with a low chance of having to kill enemies, so think of this as an opportunity to test a potential path in the diplomatic field."
"Diplomatic field?" Masaru echoed, and the Hokage nodded.
"Yes. Diplomatic missions to foreign villages always run a risk of betrayal and require a strong grasp of politics, but they generally involve less fighting than most. As a member of the Uchiha clan—one of our founding clans—your presence would be seen as quite honorable and flattering, though it would also carry a higher personal risk for obvious reasons."
Masaru frowned and slowly nodded, his mind racing. Bloodline theft always posed a large risk to the Uchiha, whose Sharingan could potentially be taken and transplanted into other people as proven by Kakashi. Diplomatic missions to foreign villages would undoubtedly be especially dangerous for him because of it, but on the other hand the villages would be unable to openly attack him without running the risk of starting another war.
"We'll leave tomorrow at six," Gaku informed him, breaking him from his thoughts. "Pack for a standard C-rank mission, and bring enough supplies for three days. Aokigawa-cho's only a few hours away, but we need to take a longer route back for security reasons and the weather calls for an intense storm tomorrow, so we'll probably need to stay at a hotel. If we run into any bandits, we'll have you take lead so you can get field experience. Got it?"
"Yes, sir," Masaru responded, nodding his head firmly. The Hokage smiled, satisfied at his conviction.
"In that case, you're dismissed," he declared. Masaru nodded and turned to leave, casting a final glance at the white-haired man who had been silent the entire time. Something about him still felt really familiar...
The next morning, the four shinobi met at the gates at dawn and set out. The journey took only a few hours, Genma and Raidou making polite conversation with Masaru and Gaku as they jumped through the trees. They arrived in Aokigawa an hour before the scheduled meeting time, so they decided to get a quick lunch at a small cafe and review the return route a final time before going to the meeting point a few minutes early.
Four Suna shinobi stood outside the hotel, and even if they didn't have hitai-ate they would stand out. The jounin sensei wore turban-like headgear that had a cloth hanging over the left half of his face, along with a tan flak jacket. The eldest genin, a kunoichi, had sandy blonde hair tied into four spiky pigtails and wore a lavender dress with a fishnet undershirt. Next to her stood a boy dressed like a Kabuki stagehand, complete with a black uniform and purple face paint.
However, the one that caught Masaru's attention the most was the youngest, a boy with spiky red hair and the kanji for "love" displayed prominently on his forehead right above his left eye. Something about him sent chills down Masaru's spine, his unease only multiplying when the boy's gaze slid towards him as they approached. Thick black lines ringed his eyes, his irises a pale green with no distinct pupils.
His eyes had no light in them, looking barely different from a corpse's.
Suppressing a shudder at the thought, Masaru hung back as Genma greeted the jounin-sensei, who introduced himself as Baki. Behind him his students all seemed to focus their attentions on Masaru, which really did not ease his comfort. After a certain point Baki nodded at them and the girl stepped forward, flashing Masaru a small smirk. "My name is Temari. As you can probably guess, I'm the oldest."
"My name's Kankurou," the Kabuki-stagehand-wannabe greeted, raising a hand in a wave. His eyes held a sort of malicious gleam as he leered at Masaru with an unfriendly grin, obviously sizing him up.
"Gaara," the scariest one said simply, soulless stare never leaving him. Masaru just smiled the most polite and forced smile possible, his etiquette training automatically kicking in as his brain began to overload with heavily suppressed panic at the sheer stress of the social dilemma facing him.
He had a feeling this mission would be mildly terrifying.
"My name is Uchiha Masaru, it is an honor to meet you," he greeted, bending at an almost ninety degree angle in a respectful bow usually reserved only for one's Kage. "I hope we all get along well."
When he straightened he found the Sand Siblings continued to stare at him in a predatory way, and after a moment Genma coughed and suggested they move out. Most of the day passed uneventfully. The adults talked idly about the predicted storm and their plans for the night, while Temari and Kankurou lightly interrogated Masaru about his training.
"So you're not taking the exams?" Temari asked, blue eyes glinting in mild disapproval.
"I do not have a proper team and a am quite recent graduate, so I am afraid I do not qualify," Masaru replied, vaguely noting his cheeks started to feel a little sore from his polite smile. It hadn't faded once since leaving Aokigawa, a fact that the Sand genin did not miss.
"You smile a lot, don't you?" Kankurou muttered, scratching his head. "It's kinda creepy."
"I apologize if my smile seems unsettling," he replied, dipping in a small bow.
"You talk pretty stiff, too. Seriously, it's getting kinda weird."
"I apologize again. I tend to revert to highly polite behavior when feeling particularly stressed."
"Are you saying we scare you?" Temari asked, smirking at him viciously, and Masaru could feel Gaara's eyes boring into him from behind. His smile grew a little wider, and he consciously forced it to shrink a bit when his eyes began to scrunch up.
"Yes, but that is because all social interactions tend to scare me as I am ridiculously inexperienced and awkward." He had gotten better at it and could talk to most Leaf ninja just fine, but foreign ninja—not to mention the children of an allied village's leader—admittedly pushed him firmly outside his comfort zone and right into the great void of discomfort.
He responded politely to all their questions, that nerve-induced smile never fading, and tried to ignore the fact Gaara kept staring at him in utter silence. Something about Gaara unsettled him, and Masaru decided he should probably trust his instincts and keep his distance as much as possible without being rude. Something else told him Gaara wouldn't particularly care about manners anyway, but he would not take any chances.
Storm clouds gathered overhead by the time they reached the hotel, renting a total of four rooms with plans to split into pairs. "That redhead seemed to get his own room," Raidou reported as the Leaf ninja convened in Masaru and Gaku's room that evening. "Baki put his belongings in the same one as the two older genin, anyway."
"There's something off with that kid," Genma muttered, reclining against a wall with a frown. "I don't know, maybe it's just me, but..." His eyes slid over to Gaku, who seemed unusually tense.
"I think there's a high chance it's him," he declared solemnly, and Masaru blinked, looking around the gathered jounin in confusion. Clearly they knew something he didn't. Sensing his confusion, Gaku turned to him with a sigh. "Well, I need to teach you about this sooner or later, so... Masaru, do you know anything about jinchuuriki?"
"Jinchuuriki?" he repeated, brows knitting in confusion. "It sounds kinda familiar, but..."
"Jinchuuriki are hosts who have a Tailed Beast sealed inside them." Masaru instantly perked up, recognition flashing in his eyes.
"Like the Kyuubi?" he asked, and Gaku nodded.
"Exactly. Tailed Beasts can't actually be killed since they're chakra constructs. They can be defeated, but they'll eventually reform, so the villages usually seal them into a person. Not many people can handle their chakra, and normally it's done while the host is very young so that their chakra coils can adapt to it. All five of the great villages have at least one jinchuuriki, though Taki also has one."
"Suna has the Ichibi," Raidou added. "The One-Tailed Tanuki. We don't know who the host is, though. The villages try to conceal the jinchuuriki's identities, so we can only speculate. Most evidence we have points to the Kazekage's youngest son being their jinchuuriki, though."
"If he is, I'm wondering how stable his seal is," Genma added. "Like I said, something about him seems off. I know the seals can be pretty tricky business, and last I heard Suna doesn't have any fuinjutsu masters."
"In any case, I think we should take shifts tonight," Gaku suggested. "Just in case." The other jounin nodded in agreement, and worked out a quick plan to have a rotating watch shift. They chose to leave Masaru out since as a genin he wouldn't be able to do much on his own if anything happened. Still, the brief conversation left him with a lot to think about as he laid in bed.
Tailed Beasts couldn't die, and all five great hidden villages had at least one jinchuuriki. According to the stories, the Fourth Hokage gave his life to kill the Kyuubi. However, if the Kyuubi couldn't actually die, then logically he must have sealed it instead. Which meant Konoha had a jinchuuriki. But who?
("Don't you dare come in here, you demon!" "Damn fox, can't believe he's stuck in my son's class." "You have no business speaking to him so familiarly, you damn demon brat!")
He frowned and squeezed his eyes shut, burrowing under the covers. Maybe he shouldn't think about it...
Omake: Dog Duty
Loud giggles escaped Masaru as dozens of small tongues tickled his face, uncaring of the low pain in his ribs from the mound of squirming, furry bodies currently crushing him. As far as ways to die went, Masaru decided "asphyxiation by puppies" really wouldn't be that bad.
"Okay, I've heard of a dog piles, but this is kinda crazy," Kiba muttered as he and the other members of Team Eight stood to the side, watching the Uchiha writhe under the mound of puppies.
"Perhaps Masaru-kun simply has more experience with canines," Shino offered. Gasping for breath, Masaru lifted his head slightly to shake it at the Aburame.
"I never—pfft—really met a dog—haha—besides Akamaru," he told him, his words punctuated by suppressed giggles. He also met Kakashi's ninken, but he didn't count them because most of their interactions consisted of them chasing him down at Kakashi's command. They never really showed any dog-like behavior other than slobbering all over him. "The Uchiha used—heh—c-cat summons."
"You disgust me," Kiba deadpanned, and Hinata giggled slightly. Masaru didn't respond right away, too busy giggling at the puppies tickling his face.
"Help me," Masaru choked once he got enough breath, flashing the other genin a watery and desperate smile.
"That would be counterproductive," Shino replied bluntly. "Why? Because once they figure out what's going on, they will become impossible to control."
"Shino's right," Kiba agreed easily. "Just enjoy it." Masaru shot them a weak glare, but considering he had a goofy smile on his face from giggling, it hardly had any effect. Note to self: never let enemies figure out face is ticklish. Not that many enemy shinobi would try to tickle someone's face, but still.
The door to the examination room opened and Inuzuka Hana stepped outside, setting down a small brown Akita puppy. It quickly bounded over to join its canine brethren in piling atop the trapped Uchiha, and Masaru's head flopped back onto the tile with a resigned giggle. So far they'd gone through eight puppies, and no pandemonium had broken out.
"Wow, those puppies really like you, don't they?" she commented lightly. "This is the smoothest vaccination day we've had in a while." Her lips quirked into a teasing smirk as she added, "You know, maybe you should take one of them home." Sudden silence fell as twenty-one pairs of puppy ears perked in excitement, an equal number of shiny eyes turning upon Masaru.
Masaru slowly turned to look at Team Eight, his face resigned. "Tell Sasuke I love him," he requested flatly, and then the puppies pounced on him with renewed energy.
